Stereotactic breast biopsy has become the method of choice for non-surgical diagnosis of many forms of breast cancer. Many breast cancers are discovered by the presence of microcalcifications visible on a screening mammogram. Yet these microcalcifications do not have a corresponding palpable abnormality. Therefore, an image-guided needle biopsy technique must be utilized to determine if early, pre-invasive breast cancer is present. Currently, stereotactically guided needle biopsy procedures represent the state-of-the-art for the common situation outlined above.
However, though very safe and minimally invasive, stereotactic breast biopsy can be laborious, time-consuming and uncomfortable for the patient. In order to immobilize the breast, physical compression must be applied to the breast during the procedure, and the patient must remain motionless. Procedure times are typically between 30-45 minutes, despite recent advances in vacuum-assisted biopsy needle technology. A significant component of procedure time continues to be consumed by the production of specimen radiographs.
A specimen radiograph is an ex-vivo x-ray picture of the biopsy samples or specimen “threads” retrieved from the breast. Under conventional circumstances, this radiograph must be performed on a dedicated x-ray unit 100, such as that shown in FIG. 1, for example. An example of such dedicated x-ray unit is the PathVision™ unit sold by Faxitron Bioptics LLC in Tucson, Ariz. The x-ray picture taken on this unit is required to assure that sufficient quantities of microcalcifications are removed from the groups of visible within the breast. This process proves that the biopsy procedure will be adequate for subsequent analysis by pathology. The process of performing specimen radiography is standard-of-care for stereotactic breast biopsy. However, the x-ray units currently available in the market are very expensive. An alternative method is to use a regular mammography machine in another room, and perform examinations between two patients or two images of a patient. However, users do not have sufficient time or do not take the time necessary to acquire the images under optimal conditions, for example, reconfiguring the mammography machine in geometric magnification mode. As a result, images of poor quality are produced, and the only way to improve the clarity of the images would be to invest heavily on a dedicated x-ray unit as described above.